"Believe what you saw when you were in the light, and when you are in the ploughed field and God’s moral seasons are going over you—the remainder of the cold, hard winter, the beginnings of the strange, painful stirrings of spring—keep abandoned to Him. He knows the seasons to bring to your soul as He does in the natural world."
                                    .--Oswald Chambers, Run Today's Race, January 7

Reflections by Ryan:
 
In the light of the summertime, the fields are alive, the crops are abundant and the work is immediately rewarding.  Yet, just on the heels of the rich time of harvest is the constant of change.  The fall colors give way to the cold stillness of winter and the green growth of the springtime seems only a memory.  Just as the hand of God is realized in the stages of growth and the harvest, so is His presence active in the seasons of change in our lives.

However, the grace of God in your life is not subject to change like the seasons.  You might change, but his loving grace remains constant.  He is present and working--not only in the vivid summertime of your faith but also in your cold winter of waiting.  With God, when it seems like nothing is happening--something is happening.

The presence of a plowed field speaks of the promise of new life.  Plowing is unsettling but needed.  The plow prepares the ground for the sowing of seed and is the prerequisite to new growth.  Let the blade of sorrow, struggle or the conviction of sin penetrate the soil of your soul.  Let it turn under the pride, worry and selfishness and then yield yourself to God, knowing that the moral seasons of cold, rain, snow and ice are working to transform the old ways of your life into new growth in Him.  Wait upon the Lord.  Submit yourself to His working in your soul. 

When the green of new growth begins to push up through the tilled soil of your heart and life, hold tightly to God.  Know that in the midst of the spring rains and cool nights God is working--sustaining you as the warm light of summer inches closer.  Growth happens as the winds of the Spirit blow and the seasons of change move over your soul.

We must wait upon the Lord, the creator and sustainer of all things--believing in faith that He is working to bring about a rich harvest in our lives.  Keep abandoned to Him--trusting that as surely as the sun rises on a summer morning He is lovingly present and working in your life.

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” 
                                                    ,--Isaiah 40:8
 
Run Today’s Race: A Word from Oswald Chambers for Every Day of the Year. Copyright © 1968 Oswald Chambers Publications Association Ltd.
Scripture: NIV